Is our call greater than Carpe Diem?

Do you find yourself thinking there must be something more?  Are you living in survival mode, doing all you can to manage to get through the day?  We run from school, to work, to this practice or to a lesson, squeezing in dinner and homework here or there.  With demanding schedules driven by outside forces or our own desires for order and pursuit of the well-adjusted child, we can easily loose sight of our purpose and goals.  That raises the question, what is our goal?  Have we set a goal?  Our ultimate purpose as parents is to shape and prepare our children for a relationship with Christ, parenting today for the coming years and for an eternal future.

How can you be more tuned in to the reality of our ultimate destination?  Look for ways to incorporate Jesus into everyday life—and on an everyday basis. Read Deuteronomy 6 and ask God to give you insight into opportunities to point to Him throughout the day, in every opportunity.  Experience and communicate a sense of awe of His power with every sunrise, sunset, or rainstorm you encounter with your kids.  Evaluate if your schedule provides time for you to enjoy the gift of your children.  Use the tools sent home with your children from the weekend and talk about the attributes and principles they are studying during weekend services.  Parent Pages, S'more Cards and bookmarks can be found online at our website. 

Feel the freedom to seek God and do something different, do something intentional.  Be intentional with your choices, your time, and their energy. Arrange your plans around the big-picture goal. If activities start to interfere with what’s really important, reevaluate and rework your family’s schedule. When faith becomes the top priority for your family, it’ll also become the top priority for your children.  It may mean giving up a sport they have played for a couple years.  It may mean giving up one of your hobbies.  It may mean adding new activities to your calendar, intentional time to love, laugh and grow together.  Live it out, mirror His image, and maintain your eternal perspective and sense of awe in our Amazing God and share it with your family.

Are you seeking more encouragement in your journey of intentional parenting?  Join us, Tuesday, January 31st at Parent Link. http://gracechurchsc.org/parentlink

- Lee Anne Cavin, Children's Ministry Director

Preschool Curriculum: God is Jealous

This past weekend, we began a new series in our Preschool Ministry. We are studying through the Ten Commandments to learn that God is Jealous, and we should worship Him.

The points of emphasis for this study are:

1. We belong to God
2. God wants us to only worship Him
3. The 10 Commandments tell us how God wants us to live

Here is an excerpt from the Leader Preparation for this series...

God is a jealous God and He expects our worship, service and obedience to be for Him alone. Sometimes the worlds "jealous God" cause a struggle for us. To the world's way of thinking it sounds so self-centered and self-promoting for God to be a jealous God and call us to worship, serve and obey Him exclusively. But, God is not like us; He is transcendent - He has an "otherness" to His being...The Scripture reveals the transcendence or "otherness" of God to us as it unfolds facets of His character and very essence. Just as multiple simultaneous bursts of light in the sky make up the "WOW" of fireworks, so the multiple facets of the character and "otherness" of God make up the "WOW" of His glory!

The memory verse for this series is Matthew 4:10, "You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him."  This series will run through October 30th.

You can view our more information about our Preschool Ministry on our website.

Camp Grace Curriculum

We are 6 weeks into the curriculum in Camp Grace, after having finished our first round of the split-curriculum (you can read more about this here) on August 6th & 7th. We have studied about creation, how God created man and woman in His image, sin entering the world, the consequences of sin that we experience today, and the corrupt nature evident in humanity through Cain and Abel. 

We began our study of Noah in Genesis 6-8 this past weekend. We saw how God was grieved by the evil rebellion His people were living in, and decided to destroy the world through a flood. One man, Noah, found favor with God because he was righteous and followed God. God gave Noah instructions to build an ark for his family and two of every animal to go aboard in order to be saved from the flood. We saw how Noah was obedient in everything God asked of him, and God was faithful to save Noah and his family from His plan to destroy the world. 

This weekend, we will finish the story of Noah to see how Noah responded in worship to God's grace and faithfulness to save him and his family. We will study from Genesis 8:20-22 and 9:12-17, and discuss what it looks like to worship God in spirit and in truth. We were created by God to worship Him with our lives, and we will learn how we can worship Him.

For more information about our Camp Grace curriculum and an outline of our upcoming curriculum, click here.